Photo by: Chase Yocom
Normally the feel-good stories of summer are about rookies like Benny Bloss in the 450MX class and Austin Forkner in the 250MX making a name for themselves as professionals, but this year, we’ve had a couple of longtime journeymen professionals like Zach Osborne and Star Racing / Yamaha’s Alex Martin stepping their game up late in their careers. At the 2016 Budds Creek National, Zach and Alex split moto wins, with Zach scoring the first overall win of his career and Alex taking second overall on the day.
Heading into 2016, for Alex to get on the podium was a huge deal, but seeing Alex’s disappointment with second at Budds Creek shows you just how far he’s come in one year. In the first moto at Budds Creek, Alex started second and inherited the lead when Adam Cianciarulo crashed and handed it over. Alex took the lead and handled some late-race pressure from Adam to score his second moto win of 2016 and just the third of his career.
In the final moto, Alex rounded the first turn around 20th, checked in after lap one in 12th and made his final pass of the moto for fourth on lap 13. At that point, Alex thought it was enough to score his second overall win of the season, but he unfortunately did not know until it was too late that he needed one more spot. In the end, Alex crossed the line in fourth, and his 1-4 was edged out by Zach’s 4-1 on the day. It was a tough way to finish second, but the mood was lightened when he found out he had put 23 points over Joey Savatgy in the race for second overall in the 250MX Championship. Second overall on the year would be a huge accomplishment for A-Mart.
After the race, Alex sat down and answered some questions about his day, his year and the incredible turnaround he’s made in his career.
Alex, 2nd overall today and another moto win for you today. Congrats on the day. I kow it’s not you wanted and you have a goal of going 1-1, but lets talk about your two motos today. I’m especially curious about your mindset going into moto two.
Coming off Unadilla—I think that was the first race this year where I didn’t get a podium in either moto—I was riding a little extra motivation for sure during the week to redeem myself. The first moto, I got off to a great start and had a nice battle with Adam [Cianciarulo]. I made a little mistake and he was able to get about five seconds on me. So he had a good little cushion. Bummer for him he went down. I came around the corner and was like, “Sweet!” That made my life easy, and I tried to just ride out the rest of the moto. It was hot so I kind of in my mind I thought to save my energy for the second moto. It was literally the same case scenario as last weekend. It was hot and humid and a lot of people dropped off in the second moto. A couple of lappers got in my way and I almost lost it to Adam there at the end, but fortunately I was able to hold onto it.
In the second moto I got tangled up with Cooper [Webb] and Aaron [Plessinger] on the start. All three of us were almost dead last. I think I was around 15th and I just tried to pick off people to get up to be in contention for the overall. I wasn’t really sure where… [Austin] Forkner and [Zach] Osborne and all those guys were so far ahead. I didn’t know where anyone was. Once I passed Adam and Joey [Savatgy], I kind of thought the overall was in my grasp. I had no idea Zach was winning, so that kind of put a wrench in my plans. It was like two laps to go and I got the pit board that said, “2nd overall.” Maybe at one time I would of been excited to see that, but I was kind of pissed. I kind of had the idea of finishing first overall in my head. I needed to pass Cooper and at that point in time I had been riding behind him for two or three laps and really wasn’t taking the initiative to pass him and when the pit board came out I thought, “Man, I kind of wasted the opportunity.
Did you think was too late in the race when that came out?
Yeah, ’cause it was literally on the two laps to go—passed the mechanics area—and the white flag was out. Not much you can do in that time.
Was there anything that you could point to last week or was it just bad circumstances? I know you had a crash in the first moto. Did you feel like you rode okay last week?
Physically last weekend was a big struggle for me. Just my stomach was killing me, and it just so happened to be the hottest race we had all year. That was a really bad combo. Just to have some stomach issues, and I really couldn’t keep anything down. So the energy levels were there. I was telling Swanny [Gareth Swanepoel] in-between motos, I just wanted to go take a nap. I was so exhausted. I had to line up for moto two and try to make the best of it. Obviously I benefited from Joey pulling off there, so I’m glad that I did tough it out and finish it. Points-wise even today helped me out, those last two hot motos.
You mentioned that you’ve been happy with second overall most of the time. Can you believe that you’ve got to this point where moto wins are like, “Ah whatever, I’m here to get overalls?” Or i’m here to get second in points? It’s come a long way in a pretty short amount of time.
Yeah, absolutely. It’s been for sure kind of a dream season for me, especially coming out of supercross. I don’t think anything was really expected of me. To come out swinging at Hangtown and basically carry that momentum all the way through the season. And here we are, I’m second still behind Cooper with one round left, and looking to make the best for next week. For sure my mindset and everything has changed. I think the biggest thing for me is when you’re like an eight-year veteran and you’re riding around in fifth or tenth your whole career, it’s hard to change that mindset. I wasn’t a rookie that came in expecting to win. So I think it’s something that you can learn, just like anything else. I think towards the end of the season that mindset’s come around and even when I get fourth I’m mad at that.
You won a moto here last year and they were like partying for you. It was like, “Yay, Alex got a moto win!” But I don’t think that was your reaction after this first moto win. It’s just like, oh, another moto win.
Yeah, the feelings in-between motos were a lot different this year compared to last year. Last year I was kind of in shock and awe and this year I’m just like, all right, one more moto, let’s get it done. Looking to get a 1-1.
How does it feel to be a definite second in the points with Joey packing it in, in moto two?
Yeah, for sure. Obviously the main goal is to win but Cooper wrapped it up today, so congrats to him. To finish second this year is a huge accomplishment for me, especially for where I’ve been in my career. Last year I think we were sixth or seventh, so it’s a huge turnaround and nothing to be ashamed or bummed about. To lock up second in the championship, I’m pretty pumped about it.
